'Israelis target of Iranian suspects in Bangkok blasts'

February 16, 2012 15:34 IST

Backing Israel's claims, Thailand police chief has said the three Iranian suspects arrested after the triple blasts in Bangkok were plotting to target Israeli diplomats and confirmed that the sticky bomb found at the attacks' site matched the explosives used in Monday's incident in Delhi.

"I can tell you that the target was specific and aimed at Israeli diplomatic staff," police chief Gen Prewpan Dhamapong told a local TV station on Wednesday night.

He also said that a sticky bomb was found at the blasts' site. It was the same type of explosives that was used to target Israeli embassy cars in India and Georgia on Monday.

His comments came hours after Israel's ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoham emphatically claimed that the three Iranian suspects involved in the blasts in Bangkok were part of the same network of assailants who targeted the Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused Iran of being the world's "biggest exporter" of terror and asked the global community to draw a "red line" against Tehran's alleged support to acts of terrorism.

"Iran is the biggest exporter of terror in the world. Iran's terror operations are now exposed for all to see," Netanyahu said during a Knesset (Israeli Parliament) plenum, a day after the botched attack in Thailand which Israel believed was meant to target its ambassador in Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra urged the public to stay calm following the bombings, saying everything was being done to ensure people's safety.

Law enforcement agencies as well as the Bangkok fire and rescue department had been told to stay vigilant. Soldiers were also closely monitoring checkpoints on the borders with Myanmar and Laos.